Governments in Australia and elsewhere have longed for decentralisation, and pursued it relentlessly.  It never worked.  Could Covid madness be the answer?

The Sydney cricket test has begun.  Virtually without a crowd.  Those there are all wearing masks, because they are compulsory in Sydney.  Covid summer madness has hit the Premier State, where a mere two Covid deaths have occurred since 1 September 2020. 

2020 was the very worst of times.  A year not to savour but to regret.  What was thought inconceivable a mere twelve months ago is now real.  It can never be inconceivable again.  Barring a miracle or concerted political action by those who resent our loss of freedom, a dystopian future surely awaits us all.

It was late 2019, and a coincidence of events saw Australian police forces, especially Victoria Police, under the pump.  2020 only got worse for our bungling coppers.  First there was the humiliation of the Pell case outcome, then the unconscionable thuggery of VicPol against its own citizenry, beamed around the world, and finally, the McMurdo excoriation.  Will things change?  Will the rogue force south of the Murray be set to rights?  Will anyone be punished?  This article was written in December 2019, and is published here now for the first time.

The editor of Quadrant magazine, Keith Windschuttle, as written a cracker of a book on the George Pell case.  It is much needed, in order to provide some balance in the face of the various tirades previously published by sworn enemies of Cardinal Pell's.  It should be read both by those who already know the case well, and by those who do not.

We are facing a six-headed monster of tyranny.  Freedom is on the line, as Western, so-called democratic governments have trashed our basic human rights.  How much do we know, or care?

Welcome to the Covid economy.  Depleted incomes, smashed small businesses, bullshit jobs, a whole new platform for crony capitalism, deserted main streets.  What's not to love?

The charge of being a conspiracy theorist is now poison.  A conversation killer. Unfortunately, many dissenters from the State's line on many issues, not just Covid, are cowed by the charge.  It is a trick.

The story of the US election can be told as a tale of four cities.  As Dickens might have put it, it may just be the worst of times.

2020 has seen the perfect storm of digitally powered, state driven totalitarianism.  Benign, progressive, problem solving, utopian Big Tech has nudged us all towards an Orwellian dystopia of social control.